by Seth Lightcap. posted on 22 May

Words + Photos by Seth Lightcap

April always arrives with high expectations for the adventurous backcountry snowboarder. The days are long, your legs are strong and your frothing to catch a few last faceshots and climb a couple more lines before winter draws to a close. The trouble is, where do you go? There aren’t that many mountain ranges in the world where you can count on stable backcountry pow this late in the season.

For the last eight years, Jones team rider Miikka Hast has scored epic April pow riding inside the Arctic Circle in the Lyngen Alps of Northern Norway. Since the first time I saw Miikka’s stunning images from this zone it was obvious that the Lyngen Alps are one of those rare spring powder Meccas. With the US dollar stronger than ever and a decent snowpack plastering the peaks, 2015 penciled out to be an ideal spring to visit this far off, but not so remote range.

In late-April, Jones ambassador Allison Lightcap and I pulled the trigger on the trip. Flying Norwegian Air at a surprisingly low fare, we went to shred with Miikka and explore the northern most mountains we had ever visited. The adventure that unfolded was one of our best shred trips yet. Perfect weather played a big role, but even if it hadn’t been sunny everyday, the mountains spoke for themselves. The Lyngen Alps are truly gorgeous and seemingly every summit held a dozen rad, accessible lines all within a day’s walk from the road.

The icing on the cake was the budget ’Norwagon’ campervan we rented. Not only did it come equipped with a bitchin’ paint job, but also a heater, stove, sink and plenty of storage. Each night we’d camp just off the road below the peak we intended to climb the next day. Didn’t take many showers on the trip (two) or eat in many restaurants (three), but man was the van life grand...

The Lyngen Alps are located 186 miles inside the Arctic Circle at a latitude of 69.79 degrees north. This is the same latitude as the far northern reaches of Alaska but because of the warm Gulf Stream the region has a temperate climate and the ocean never freezes. This is a land of endless peaks that rise straight up from the fjords. There are mountains covering every acre of land on this map. The Lyngen Alps are located on the finger-shaped peninsula in the middle of the map. This narrow peninsula is home to the tallest and most rugged peaks in all of Scandinavia.

The first day of our trip we caught up with Miikka in the Tamok Valley. Tamok is located about 25 miles inland of the Lyngen peninsula and is a known powder hole thanks to colder average temperatures. We went touring with Miikka and Tamok local Aadne Olsrud. Aadne is an avid backcountry rider who grew up in Tamok and now wears many hats in the valley; He owns a forestry business, rents apartments to visiting riders and is the local avy forecaster.

Aadne dug a pit and showed us all the recent snow layers. Thankfully, the snowpack was bomber with no lurking deep instabilities and only minimal danger from recent storm snow.

Miikka skins the summit ridge of Blueberry Peak in Tamok.

Tamok is home to dozens of domed peaks, most featuring rideable lines on every aspect. Here’s Miikka carving into a south facing glory panel on Blueberry Peak.

The clouds raced in and out all day providing moody and magnificent light for our first views of the Arctic. Here’s Allison bombing off the top of Blueberry Peak.

After a couple tours in Tamok, we cruised to the coast to try our luck on the west side of the Lyngen Peninsula. The first line we tackled was the Tomas couloir on Store Lakselvtinden. We started hiking the 4000ft (1300m) line at 3pm and dropped in at 7pm. Gotta love the nearly midnight sun in late-April...

Conditions in the Tomas couloir were variable, but all in all, super rippable with pockets that were spectacular. Miikka tore into every turn.

Finding pow at 4000ft (1200m) fired us up to climb even higher the next day. Allison and I chased up one of the Lyngen Alps’ highest peaks - Hombukttinden (5466ft/1666m). The majority of our SW facing ascent/descent route is on the other side of this massive north face but we gained the high snowfield and climbed the narrow ridge to the summit.

Surreal skinning across Hombukttinden’s summit snowfields.

Creamy cruisin’ across Hombukttinden’s upper snowfields. Just below Allison the pitch steepens and drops through an entrance couloir into a massive bowl.

Reconning most peaks in Lyngen is as easy as pulling off the road and gazing up. We were tempted by these views of Storetinden and Trolltinden but the approach over or around a semi-frozen lake kept us looking for our next objective.

As it turned out, we found our next line looking back at photos from our day on Hombukttinden. The photos clued us into the next peak to the north, Fugdafjellet. Our chosen line was a hidden 1500ft (450m) couloir that accessed the massive upper bowl visible in this photo.

Skinning across Fugdafjellet’s upper bowl looking back at the north face of Hombukttinden.

An 8in (20cm) storm two days previous delivered stable, dreamy conditions riding off the summit into the bowl. Here’s Allison ripping it up.

Fugdafjellet’s upper bowl pours into a sweet concave couloir. All told, the complete descent is just over 5500ft (1686m).

Miikka returned to Lyngen for the last day of our trip. We made the wise choice to climb and ride the majestic NW couloir of Ellendaltinden.

Here’s another view of Ellendaltinden. The NW couloir cuts diagonal across the rocky face in the center. More amazing lines flank Ellendaltinden on all sides.

Standing at the bottom of the couloir it seemed like a hop skip to the top. As usual, the view from the bottom was severally foreshortened. Nearly two hours of bootpacking later, Allison, Miikka and I took these final steps into the notch.

Small squalls the previous nights had deposited 6-8 in (15-20cm) of light duff on top of a firm base. ’Dust on crust’ conditions didn’t allow for top speed shredding down the couloir but the misty frozen faceshots were pretty sick.

There’s no doubt we got damn lucky with the weather on our trip. In 12 days we had 11 days of sunshine. Was this freshly painted campervan our lucky charm? Hard tellin’ but the skies are permanently bluebird above those painted peaks...

by Seth Lightcap. posted on 13 May

April always delivers and 2015 was no exception. Fresh snow fell all over the globe and the Jones team was ready and waiting...here’s the grand finale powder report stacked with more shots than ever. Enjoy!

Kapow! Jimmy Goodman (@goddmannnnnn) opens the gallery with a blast from early-April at Mammoth Mountain in California. Photo - John Truax (@rapidorojo)

Luca Pandolfi (@pandolf73) went couloir hunting on the Alagna side of Monta Rosa in Italy.

Looks like Luca found what he was looking for... Photo - Sylvain Reynaud (@sylvain_reynaud)

But of course, Julien ’Pica’ Herry (@picaherry_guide_chamonix) went searching for powder on the steepest, steeps possible. Here he is on the North face of the Aiguille Du Midi. Photo - Davide Capozzi (@dcapoz)

Riding pow with an ice axe just comes with the territory for Julien ’Pica’ Herry. Photo - Davide Capozzi (@dcapoz)

Meanwhile, up in the Arctic Circle of Norway, Miikka Hast, Allison and Seth Lightcap were ripping pow in the stunning couloirs of the Lyngen Alps. Here’s Allison (@allisonlightcap) barreling down a classic. Photo - Seth Lightcap (@sethlightcap).

Splitboard guide Neil McNab (@neilmcnab) was all over the place in April. He started the month in the Alps, then went to Norway and finished off the month in Kamchatka, Russia. Here’s a taste of the insane terrain he got to shred in Kamchatka.

Idaho and Wyoming got some snow in April. Here’s a classic couloir Iris Lazz (@irislazz) climbed in the Sawtooth range of Idaho early in the month.

Lake Tahoe also got crushed with a solid dump mid-month. The pow didn’t last long but it did allow for the construction of an insane backcountry banked slalom course by Taylor Carlton (@taylorc27)and crew. Photo - Jason Champion (@sierranevadasplitboarding).

Not pow but an epic line to shred nonetheless...Nick Russell (@nick_russelll) and Nathaniel Murphy (@nathanielmurphy) went corn harvesting on a few volcanoes in Oregon this April. Here’s a shot from North Sister.

And that brings us to the Mecca of April Pow...Alaska! Iris Lazz (@irislazz) hiked all three of these couloirs in a day near Valdez.

Andrew Hardingham (@hardinghama) made the pilgrimmage to AK and was kindly rewarded for the long drive north.

After a slow start, the snow pack in AK vastly improved in April. Here’s a line Andrew Hardingham slayed near Thompson Pass that he calls the ’Tung’. Photo - (@donaldlivin)

Claudia Avon (@claudia_avon) rode some rowdy lines in this AK zone called Enigma.

by Seth Lightcap. posted on 7 May

Congrats Julien ’Pica’ Herry and Davide Capozzi on another surreal first descent in the Italian Alps! Pica recounts the challenging climb and descent in the story below:

Monte Emilius (3559m), NW Couloir (450m/45-50°/5.2 E4 )

In Spring 2013, Davide and I got our first close look at the impressive North face of Mt. Emilius. We didn´t dare try this bold line that day, but instead went riding on the North face of the Becca di Nonna, one of Mt. Emilius smaller neighboring peaks.

Over the next two seasons, Davide and I rode two more of Mt. Emilius’ neighboring faces: North face of Tersiva, and in Jan 2015, the first descent of the North face of Punta Garin. Now the only peak we has left to ride in this range was the main and highest summit, Mt. Emilius.

We’ve had terrible conditions in the high mountains of the Alps this spring, not many options to ride. When Davide showed me a recent picture of the North face of Mont Emilius it looked dry, but on closer inspection, the lower couloir actually did seem snowy enough to get to the summit ridge. Despite the long approach, on April 13th we decide to go and get a closer look at the snow coverage and see how steep the terrain really was.

Julien midway up the couloir. Photo - Davide Capozzi

Starting from Pila village at 5.30 am, 4 hours of intense touring brought us to the bottom of the face. The face is really steep but luckily, our objective is the weakness in the wall and the couloir looks rideable. The snow in the first North facing hanging ramp is cold and powdery but unfortunately the aspect changes to West a little ways up. The few hours of sun the west faces gets in the afternoon has made the snow icy.
We still manage to find a narrow line of cold snow on the right hand side of the couloir that keeps us motivated to go and check above. Fifty meters under the ridge we realize that we won’t be able to ride the line from the top, but we decide to climb to the ridge to have a look. The wind welcomes us there so we decide to quickly go down...

Davide finds a halfway sunny turn near the top. Photo - Julien Herry

Two 30 meter rappels later and we’re back at the top of the couloir, putting our boards on. The sun is getting closer to hitting the couloir and we know that in a few hours it will warm the icy snow into a nice corn, but we don’t feel we have time to wait. Our descent to the valley is still long and dangerous and the snow was already soft early morning. We decide not to wait until the snow softens in order to have a safer way back from the mountain.

Julien searches for cold snow hugging the more north facing side of the couloir. Photo - Davide Capozzi

The couloir is steep but the snow is grippy enough to allow calculated turns. The view over the green fields of the Aosta Valley provides an amazing contrast and we feel lucky to be here on our boards. Slowly the couloir becomes a bit less steep and we gain confidence on the difficult snow. A few nice turns in the last ramp and we are quickly back to the bottom of the face. The descent down to the valley takes us as long as the morning approach and we ride some of the most rotten snow we have ever experienced.

In the end we put in an 11 hour effort and we’re both really happy about our first experience on Mt Emilius. Definitely ready to come back next season for an attempt from the summit. Thanks to Davide for another amazing adventure in this region and to the splitboarding revolution for allowing journeys like these!